That is amazing, especially considering how rare SEOs have become!
In the early 1990s, Short-eareds would occasionally be seen at Hammo in the winter. And they'd be rarely seen, mobbed by crows, mid-morning, flopping away towards the southwest, at the Lighthouse Point Park Hawk Watch in late October (then, located just east of the butterfly garden). SEOs were actually counted in Hawk Count as diurnal raptors.
In the 1990s, one bright freezing winter day (I keep horrible notes) I walked Long Beach towards Pleasure Beach and had 3 Short-eared Owls flush from the dunes, about 25 meters apart, and fly away, like huge, gangly, tawny moths.
I don't ever expect to experience a similar encounter, again in Connecticut.
Unfortunately, you and I and a few other CT residents, are privileged, Chris.
Steve Mayo
Bethany
On Monday, October 20, 2014 8:32 PM, Chris Harrison via CTBirds <ctbirds at lists.ctbirding.org> wrote:
10/20. Stratford Point.
At around 6:00 PM I accidentally flushed 2 SHORT-EARED OWLS. The first one flew down the path I was on and landed. I got a decent photo with my phone and observed it for a minute. When I started walking again, the second one, which had been about 10 feet from me, flushed as well. They flew around together for a while, and appeared to land again in a nearby field.
Chris Harrison
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